


Absent

by FutureFishies



Category: Gangsta. (Manga)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 05:14:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4906828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FutureFishies/pseuds/FutureFishies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It started as an ordinary day, the ordinary calls, an ordinary farewell to their secretary as they went to complete an ordinary job.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Absent

Chaos.

The only word that came to mind describing the current state of the office, their meager living area and office wasn’t the most tidy area to begin with, but in its current state, chaos was the only way to describe it.  Furniture upturned, papers littering the normally bare wooden floor, the doors to both bedrooms wide open, the drawers in the desk ripped free.  Among all the clutter, their soft spoken secretary was nowhere in sight.

Panic.

That was the next word that registered from the two men that unsuspectingly entered the disastrous state of their home.  Worick running towards the upside-down desk to only find the telephone was nonfunctional, the cord having been ripped savagely from the wall.  Nicolas scrambling from room to room trying to find the only other person that could possibly be there, sharp eyes looking for any sign of their third roommate.

Realizing that she was nowhere to be found both men urgently left their home, running to Constance’s arms shop, to the closest working telephone.

The first person Worick called was the police, like any normal person would in the case of a missing person.

“Chado!” Worick shouted into the receiver, “Something’s happened… No, it’s Alex...”

Similar calls were made to the families, even the guild, but no one had known what had happened to Benriya’s secretary, Alex Benedetto, or at least wasn’t willing to give up information of what they knew.

Frustration began to rise up in both men, for an entire day they went around the filthy city of Ergastulum on their own, trying to find information on their own on her whereabouts.

There were only two facts that the Benriya knew for certain; someone had came to their establishment, and taken their third member away by force.  With such little information, they were unable to get any more as to who could have abducted her.  After searching and threatening the more rough members of society, the two eventually fixed their only telephone and waited, hoping to at least be contacted by the kidnappers.

Afternoons of chewed fingernails and pacing the office, no call came, the duo eventually found themselves at the police station.  Worick shouting at both Chad and Cody, it had been three days since they found their home violated and still no sign of their missing companion.  Nicolas standing behind his contract holder glowering at the inspectors, eyebrow raised, arms crossed, teeth clenching, maintaining a threatening expression.

“You call yourself the police?” Worick questioned incredulously, “there should be something out there, someone must have seen her!”

“Look Worick,” Chad slammed his hands on his desk, stacks of papers and folders disorganized on the surface, “No one knows who came to your place and no one saw where your pretty little hooker-secretary went.  People go missing all the time in this hell hole.” he shouted back, the vein on his forehead protruding.  “Stop bothering the police with someone who’s probably already dead!”

No one suspected that the desk that the senior officer’s hands were resting on would be slipped from underneath him, and thrown like a toy across the room.  That the Twilight that stood behind Worick was now in front of the very officer and his subordinate, arms raised up from throwing the desk aside, papers raining from the ceiling.

Everyone in the station went deathly silent, afraid to move in case it would draw attention to themselves from the intimidating shorter man.  Worick’s single eye wide with surprise, during their entire search for the young woman Nicolas has seemed calm and collected focusing on trying to find her.  Looking at his partner now, eyes wide with unrepressed anger, his lips pulled back in a ragged grin, his entire expression was indistinguishable from a mad dog’s.  Worick assumed that having Chad say there was no new information, no more clues and that it was hopeless must have caused his childhood friend’s outburst.

“Get out.” The older man seethed, pointing to the door, “Get out now!”

Without any hassle both Benriya trudged out of the station defeated, at wits end.

It took some time for them to assimilate back to how things were before they had murdered her pimp and obtained Alex’s services.  Moments where they realized there was no one home to make breakfast in the morning, no one to answer the phone while they were away, and no one to be watchful of when discussing their past.  The disheartened feeling in the pits of their stomachs at the possibility that Alex may actually be dead became numb and acceptance of her disappearance settled in, another victim of Ergastulum.

Although both of them were riddled with guilt, both tried to be strong for the other.

At first both men would sit in silence, occasionally glancing at the phone, still hoping, but eventually they decided to keep themselves busy, taking up every job that rang through.  Anything to forget about the busty blue eyed woman that had burrowed into their lives in such a short amount of time.

It was already two weeks when they received a call from Chad, another job, another handful of thugs needing to be eradicated from the city by request of one of the families.  No photographs or information is given about the group, just a location, a ratty abandoned building in the warehouse district, their job was to murder everyone in the building.

The job was simple, and would have played out as normal; Nicolas running ahead, hacking and slashing his way through miscreants ignoring their pleas for mercy.  Worick trailing behind, shooting anyone left alive shouting at his partner for taking all the fun.  The only issue with an extermination job in such a large building was the endless number of rooms, most were abandoned, devoid of any sign of use, but all had to be checked.  The two eventually split up to cover more ground.

Nicolas kicked down a number of doors, and did a quick sweep of each room, sharp eyes and keen sense of smell detecting any sign of life.  Most were empty, deserted, until he kicked in a large storage closet.

Without shelves or the usual cleaning supplies, the room seemed larger than it would if it was still used for its intended purpose.  The only source of light was a naked bulb that hung from the ceiling, that dimly lit the room.  There was a distinct scent that filled the air; sweat, blood, a humid saltiness, something was alive in here.

Skimming the room, dark eyes observed the long table pushed against the wall, stains that covered the floor.  Stepping in he caught the sight of slight movement further into the room, slow steps brought him closer, eyes adjusting to the shadowy light.

He stopped, standing in front of a chair that was occupied by familiar dark skin and hair.  Her raw wrists were bound to the arms of the wooden chair.  She still wore the same pale dress that he had last seen her in when Worick and him left the office early, the morning she disappeared, he still remembered her small smile and wave as they walked out the doorway weeks ago.  It wasn’t bright and clean as he last remembered, it was stained with dark blotches ranging in color from slight discoloration to the obvious coppery brown of dried blood.  Her dirty feet were bare, no longer in the black heels she seemed to insist on wearing, shortening her gate causing her to fall behind whenever following him.

She couldn’t see him, her eyes covered by a grimy blindfold.  Unlike Nicolas she was not deaf and could hear that someone else was in the room.  She shrank away from the sound of him, biting her lip hard enough that he could see the outline of blood where she had been practically chewing her own lip off.

Kneeling down to eye level, she attempted to jerk back letting out a whimper at the sound of his shoes moving across the dusty floor.  He raised the hand that wasn’t holding his katana up to her face, running it softly down her cheek in attempt to comfort, but instead she let out a small sob, and using what energy she had to pull herself as far from his hand as physically possible.  Nicolas hooked his thumb under the blindfold and slowly pulled it over one eye.

Vivid blue, so bright that he almost believed that it illuminated the room slightly.  It was opened wide, clouded with fear, but it looked straight at him, unwavering.  The fear did not leave it, but a form of recognition came over the shocking azure eye, and it did not blink once.  Instead the two were locked in a stare, his two dark eyes staring at her single exposed eye.

“Nic?”  Worick entered the small room, searching for his partner.  Seeing the smaller man hunched over he walked up, continuing to chat as if he could hear, “There’s several more out there, want me to take them for you?”  He snickered.

He waited at the doorway, annoyed that he was ignored the blonde walked up behind his friend, “Hey, are you even paying-”  He had cut himself off, when he realized who was sitting in front of them.

“Alex…” he let out the breath he held in.  Quickly he dropped down to his knees, hands on her shoulders shaking her slightly, “You’re here!”

Getting over his initial shock Worick hastily worked the knots around her wrists, trying to free her from the chair.

Nicolas stood abruptly, eyes still glued to the blue staring hard back at him.  His hand having a white knuckled grip on his sword, his nostrils flared slightly, eyebrows raised up.  Nicolas had no idea that he was clenching his teeth so hard that the other two could hear him grinding them against each other.  Turning around, his jacket twirling behind him, the deaf Benriya storming out the room, eyes seeing red.

Right outside, a handful of degenerates they were assigned to execute had managed to escape, grouped together like scared sheep.  Another issue with deciding to have base so far out in the factory district is what little cover it provided.  Nicolas could easily catch them, but waited a moment, reading lips before starting his slaughter.

Worick quickly undid the bindings, and pulled off his jacket, “Al-chan, you’re alright now.” He breathed, removing the rest of the blindfold.

He wasn’t sure if it was meant to be comforting for her or for himself.  The setup of the room, Worick had been in enough situations where information was needed, taken forcefully, and the setup of the room was obviously used for interrogation and possible torture.

Wrapping his jacket around her shoulders, “I’m going to pick you up now, okay?” he whispered, looking to see her response.  Instead her eyes were glued to the doorway where their third member had left, she made no indicated that she had even heard him.  Worick gingerly put his arms under her legs and shoulders, lifting her easily, and walked carefully through the vast building.

The closer the two got to the exit the louder the screams and pleas were, but then were cut short.  Eerie silence was all that waited for them outside, Worick held on tightly to the woman in his arms, knowing that soon Chad and Cody will arrive for clean up, but he worried what he would find outside.  Woman in his arms didn’t show any concern, no real emotion played out on her face, instead her hooded eyes looked forward, as if she knew what horrors to expect.

Outside was a massacre, limbs and torsos strewn across the ground, blood painting the dirt, absorbed into the soil.  In the middle of it all, breathing heavily, was a shorter man, wiping blood from his face with the back of his sleeve, before turning around to face Worick and Alex.  Any normal person would be terrified, and Worick was just that, for a moment he forgot that the person in front of him was his friend and partner, in front of him was a vindictive killer.  He knew this was a simple, clean job, but discovering Alex in the building, alive, and knowing who the culprits were had made it personal, someone close to them was taken and abused.  It was a rare moment where the tagged could release his anger and revenge with just cause, using excessive violence upon his victims.

It reminded Worick of the mansion twenty years ago.  Killing without distinguishing who was friend or foe, who was defenseless or armed, Nicolas was just a mindless murder machine.  Unlike the murder of his entire family and staff, the hearing handicapped Benriya senselessly massacred the men who he assumed that taken away one of the least violent people he had ever come to know.

A battered police cruiser pulled up at that moment, both officers exited the vehicle, examining the mess that the Twilight had left for them to clean up.  Cody quickly pulled a handkerchief over his mouth, color drained from his boyish face.  The senior inspector scanned the mass of disassembled bodies, cursing and throwing his cigarette-butt to the wet and bloodied ground, mumbling about being glorified janitors and pulled out another smoke to light, Chad looked up at Worick and nearly dropped the fresh stick.

Chad pointed in disbelief at the woman he was carrying, “She’s alive.”

The three Benriya where then stuffed into the police cruiser, Chad ordering Cody to stay behind and wait for the rest of the clean up crew and drove the three to Theo’s.  Nina waiting at the door with her intuition, bed and medical equipment ready, but was confused when the trio came in without either Nicolas or Worick bleeding or wounded.

Instead, she was stunned to find Alex in Worick’s arms, her gaze still glued on the Twilight in the group.  Nina directed them to a bed, injecting Alex with a sedative, watching her alert eyes drift to sleep.  Theo coming in to examine the former prostitute.

“You found her.” The doctor pointed out, while examining her worn wrists, and closed the privacy curtain.

Chad gestured for the two, and spoke in a gravelly whisper to not interrupt the doctor.

“Those goons you guys killed, the families wanted to get rid of them,” he took an inhale knowing the explanation would be brutal.  “Because they were seen an in inferior replacement for you brats.”

“Guess, the families weren’t into having new Handymen in town and snuffed them out.”  Scratching his chin nervously he continued, “the only reason I can see them having your girl is to get to you guys, maybe for information?”

The idea never occurred to either that having the younger woman living and working for them would endanger her life unless she accompanied them to a job.  The possibility of anyone taking Alex for information about the two seemed ludicrous, the duo being so secretive about their own past from her.  Before they could ask any questions buzzing came from the inspector’s pocket, his cellphone ringing, Chad quickly turned away, walking to the opposite side of the room to answer.

After finishing his brief examination, Theo shuffled up to the men that had been waiting patiently outside the privacy curtain, pulling off his glasses and cleaning them with a rag.

“She’s alive, not in good condition, but alive.” placing his spectacles back on his face, he looked squarely at the two men, “I’m going to be blunt, and when I’m done I don’t want you fellows to tear this place apart, are we clear?”

Both men nodded.  Worick gulped, he knew that anything that came from the sketchy back alley doctor wasn’t going to be good and tried to prepare himself for the worst.  The blonde looked warily at his shorter companion, unsure how he would react.

“First, she has a minor concussion and she’s dehydrated, there are also the obvious superficial wounds from being tied up for nearly two weeks.”  Theo’s diagnosis was brief and to the point, “She has track marks, whoever had her was drugging her regularly, if this were a real hospital we’d do blood tests to see what it was, but we’ll have to wait and see what side-effects appear.  But if I were a betting man, it would be TB, make her submissive.”

Then he sighed, “That being said, it’s obvious that she was sexually abused.  She might not even remember due to the narcotics they pumped her with, but I’ll have to run tests to make sure she’s clean and not pregnant.”

“The drugs,” Worick began to ask, “Will it be the same as before?”

Theo stuffed his hands in his lab coat, turning to face his unconscious patient, “Yes, the withdrawal will cause her to hallucinate and have episodes again, but they might be far worse.  Injection is more potent than having her orally ingest the drugs, she might have permanent damage to her psyche.  I can’t say anything about her mental state.”

Both men looked hard at the doctor, he pulled a cigarette from his jacket and a box of matches, “I’d make a call to Big Mama, she might have a new boarder because of you two, after she recovers from her physical injuries.”

“No.” all three men turned to see who interjected, Chad was standing with his arms crossed, staring hard.  “I just got a call from Pussy.  Someone saw the mess you two made today.”  He gestured his head toward Nicolas.  “No one will take her, seeing what you two would do to bring her back.  No one wants that responsibility.”

Both men looked into the curtained room at the sleeping woman that they had lost, she seemed to be sleeping peacefully, but they both knew that now she was under their care.  A sense of deja vu ran over them, the circumstances were similar to how they first obtained her, killing a group of thugs and taking her with them, their loot.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry.  
> I'm bad at story summaries.  
> I don't know where I'm going with this or if I'll add to it.  
> I wrote it out before the episode "Absence"  
> I thought it was a nice coincidence.  
> I will add tags and might change the rating.  
> I need to go back swimming, I haven't gone in a month.


End file.
